French Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Takes Pole Over Lewis Hamilton

 

Max Verstappen will be starting in pole at the French Grand Prix qualifying session after finishing quickest ahead of defending champion, Lewis Hamilton by 0.258s. It was the Dutchman's first pole since the season opening race Bahrain.

Ahead of the qualifying session, Hamilton had revealed Mercedes uses some sort of "magic button" which they had fix to avoid the incident that happened in Baku, Azerbaijan. Fixing the button in anticipation of bouncing back did not yield the desired result as Verstappen dominated the race to finish in 1:29.990 seconds. 

Both Mercedes and Red Bull dominated the top five with Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez staring in third and fourth position, but Hamilton has a fight on his hand for F1 championship lead as Verstappen tops the standings with four points clear him. 

"So far it has been a really positive weekend where normally it has been a bit difficult for us," said Verstappen. "No points are scored today but we have to finish it off tomorrow."

Paul Richard circuit has been dominated by Mercedes for three years, losing the qualifying and the final to Red Bull stand to snap Hamilton's streak at the race.